There's always so much happening - and never enough time to catch up...so, as conveniently as you would an index of your favorite episodes, the lives of your friends and family (us) are generally updated and listed so that you can feel connected...in the loop...and up to date.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Just Be Nice...or Don't Comment at All

There was an article posted on yahoo this week. A young mother/wife had posted how her little family runs on $14,000 a year. In the course of this piece, she embedded a link that had to do with making your own laundry detergent. I was curious. I followed the link to another woman's blog, saw the recipe, noted that this blog (like mine) is/was a hobby and provided a way for her to connect/learn/grow in sewing/homemaking/crafting/whatever else she felt at the time. It wasn't until a couple of days later that I thought about giving that recipe a shot that I went back to her site...only to discover that she had removed the post and written a brief note about the buh-zillions of new followers that had come from that single link...additionally, some individuals had felt the need to make some personal comments about her writing, her fashion sense, etc...

So, is it that we're not on the impersonal internet that we can hide behind a pseudo-moniker and tell people ALL of the things we observe about them (without their invitation to criticize or offer constructive feedback) solely through pictures and not even about the things that they wrote about in the first place??? WHAT?

Look, internet rules of engagement and interaction should be the same as it is in person. If you can't say/write/comment something DIRECTLY RELATED to the post, then leave the box empty. Otherwise, keep your comments to yourself. Don't comment because you can. Use your sense. If you don't know someone and chances are your comment could be read in a very different NON-HARMLESS context, just keep them to yourself.

Despite uber-connectivity and our new entitlement to upload the human experience, we're still all just that: human. And what a shame that a woman who ventured out to blog about sewing now has to be criticized about her spelling, her wardrobe, what her husband must think of her, etc. No one in a forum such as this should have to go to bat to justify themselves to random strangers. You don't like what I write? Find another blog. Or not.

Yes, we all have room to improve. However, feedback construed as attack is never productive in a positive fashion. Ever.